Web Stories

'Economic Hit Man' author here, April 11

Posted April 6, 2006; 08:37 p.m.

by Sunshine Yin

Best-selling author John Perkins will speak on his provocative
memoir, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man,” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday,
April 11, in McCosh 10.

For 10 years, Perkins was a chief economist at an international
consulting firm, where he worked as an "economic hit man," cheating
countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars using tools such
as fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion,
sex and murder. In his book, he writes that his job was to convince
countries to accept enormous loans for infrastructure development, and
to ensure that the lucrative projects were contracted to U.S.
corporations. Saddled with huge debts, these countries came under the
control of the U.S. government, the World Bank and other U.S.-dominated
aid agencies that then bullied the foreign governments into submission.

According to Library Journal, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” is a
"riveting look at a world of intrigue" that "reads like a spy novel."
The book became a New York Times best seller within a few weeks of its
release in 2004.

A question-and-answer session and a book signing will follow the lecture.